'Canada Ran Away:' Jihadists Reportedly Rejoice Over Trudeau Victory

'Canada Ran Away:' Jihadists Reportedly Rejoice Over Trudeau Victory

Supporters of the Islamic State (IS) took to Twitter to celebrate prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau's victory last week, and his promise to pull Canada out of the bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria, which jihadists hailed as a victory for their cause.

According to a report released Thursday from The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), there was a wave of reaction following last week's federal election, including from prominent IS activists.

"#Obama gets on his knees and begs Canada to continue to fight … as the #US just can't fight #ISIS on its own," tweeted Sally Jones, a British IS hacker based in Syria, and widow of prominent IS leader Junaid Hussain who was recently killed.

Another IS supporter, who describes themselves as a computer engineer, tweeted, "#ISIS You would think they were united, but their hearts are divided. O Allah separate them and don't leave any of them. Canada runs away."

Trudeau has repeatedly said he would pull Canada's armed forces from the coalition combat mission against IS — just over one year after the previous Conservative government, under outgoing Prime Minister Stephen Harper, deployed warplanes to fight IS militants in Iraq alongside the US.

Trudeau reiterated his promise to withdraw the fighter jets in a phone call with Barack Obama the day after the election. Canada currently has seven CF-18s committed to the mission. In a press conference that day in Ottawa, Trudeau said Obama understood his position.

Another activist, who the report says appears to be from Belgium, tweeted: "Allah Akbar and thanks to Allah, and the crumbling of the Crusader alliance continues. #Canada stops its strikes against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq."

The jubilant jihadists appeared to gloss over the fact that Trudeau has said he will still keep special forces in the region, and plans keep training local troops and boost humanitarian aid.

MEMRI researchers monitor and translate extremist websites and those who support such causes on social media. The report's author, Elliot Zweig, said these discussions were of interest because of Canada's important role in the Middle East over the last several years.

"But it's not very surprising," Zweig said in an interview. "ISIS and their supporters have a triumphalist streak to begin with and would tend to interpret world events as validating them and their cause."

"Beyond that, there's obviously an anti-Western bent inherent within ISIS and their supporters. So something like this, they would be happy to see it as a victory."

The report says that it will remain to be seen how Canadian leaders respond to these reactions from the pro-ISIS movement.

"It also must be borne in mind that although the Canadian leadership has changed, ISIS is still not likely to remove its ongoing focus from Canada," it concludes.